Gallery Walk Teaching Strategy

Using the Gallery Walk teaching strategy is a great way to get students engaged and actively participating in a lesson.

How Does This Gallery Walk Teaching Strategy Work?

Post several large sheets of paper around your classroom – each is a “station” in your Gallery Walk. On each piece of paper write a question about some central topic, being sure to leave plenty of room for students to write on the sheets as well. Set up items so that students can logically move clockwise to avoid confusion.
- Other things you could post:
  - A picture with or without a question that goes with it.
  - A challenging math or grammar problem–anything from an algebraic equation to a sentence diagram.
  - A quote.
  - A historical event.
Divide your class into groups of 2 – 4 students. There should not be more groups than stations. Set a visual timer so students know when it is time to rotate to another station.
Each group visits each station and responds to the question (or other things) you have written on that station’s paper. Students should also read and can then respond to things previous groups have written. This seems to work best if you give groups a couple of minutes to work at each station and then have them all rotate at the same time. I like to have groups rotate who do the writing at each station too. This helps get all students involved in the process. You can also have students respond with pictures, facts, ideas, or whatever seems most appropriate to the prompt you have posted.
Once students have visited all stations, have them return to their seats and discuss what was written at each station as a class. When I do this, I sometimes have student groups return to the first station they visited, go over what is written there, and then present it to the class.
Variation: Instead of creating the questions or prompts yourself, have each group create one, post it, and then begin the Gallery Walk. You can give students as little or as much direction as you feel necessary for your class and the situation.
This can also be completed digitally using collaborative tools such as Google Jamboard, Google Slides and/or Google Docs.

How Do I Use This Strategy?

A Gallery Walk is a great way to have students look at art or photographs from a given period in history and relate it to the events of the time.
A Gallery Walk is also a good alternative to a class discussion in class. Post the questions that you would have used in the discussion, and have groups talk about and respond during the Gallery Walk.

Why Do I Love This Strategy?

More students respond to more questions. In a Gallery Walk, many more (ideally all) students respond to each of the questions.
Students enjoy it. In my experience, a Gallery Walk is something that my students really love to do, and students learn better when they are enjoying themselves.